The C word: Christmas

This am we got to bed at 3am, in fact we've done that for the last 4 nights. I don't know why but we've been just slow to go to bed. So our days have been starting late too. I guess we haven't been doing that much as the weather is extreme English . Grey, rainy, overcast with downpours and the occasional blast of cold wind, oh actually just like Wellington in the winter! Oh well at least we have consumed a few bottles of wine and shopped for more while cooking up our soupe du jour consisting of chicken, red wine, leeks etc.

The Alimentation owners told us about a local Christmas fair that was on today so that was our plan for today. It was just a short drive away which was easy. The weather wasn't too bad having briefly stopped raining. We got there and they had some yourts (spelling?) and cut out Christmas characters, decorations and a father Christmas. We were slightly confused though as he was dressed in blue? Hmm. Not sure what that's about.

Of course we wandered around sampling the wares. Wendy had a crepe with some spirit on it, I think. We got helium balloons and everyone was writing their name on a card and tying it to it, so we did that too. There was a market with some really nice local stuff. Saw a car with an NZ sticker. There was an guy giving rides to kids on his very funny train. It had about 10 carriages all getting smaller and smaller towards the back with dollies and bears and Barbar the king (elephant) on the back. Very funny.

He had also set up a stall with potato guns, elastic band guns and a crossbow. The crossbow was wooden with metal pipes to hold the potato and inner tubes to provide the power. It was so powerful that kids had to use two hands for each rubber band to prime it. No one seemed nervous about anyone losing an eye.

In NZ we'd have a perimeter of 10m, a full safety back up system in case of systemic failure, an OSH inspector on hand to write a complete report to be presented to the PM the next day and a guy in a hard hat to go and pick up the bits of potato to ensure no one slips on them. Here people casually watched as kids chased each other around with them, fired them at passers by and stood gormlessly in the way of the firing range (I must admit that was Henry actually). It was all good rural fun. The best bit for me was the funny walking bike thing that had a propeller on the top. Henry and Bella both loved going for a ride with me while people watched.

We then came back and had an entree of smoked trout on toast with lemon and a delicious soup made by myself. It is such a nice place to relax, now all we need is some good weather so we can go for a bit more of a wander. Below is a picture of the church which I can hear the bell of right now, must be 9pm. It's just across the intersection from us, we are right in the centre of town. This picture is off the web cos I just didn't want to go outside.